


holdin' all this love out here in the hall

by moonsongthemarauder



Series: we were something don't you think so? [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Album: folklore (Taylor Swift), Angst, Based on a Taylor Swift Song, Denial of Feelings, Drama, Exes, F/M, First Love, Harry Potter Next Generation, Post-Break Up, Romance, Secret Relationship, Song: exile (Taylor Swift ft. Bon Iver), Teen Romance, some post relationship drama for scorose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:54:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27672314
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonsongthemarauder/pseuds/moonsongthemarauder
Summary: Rose could only hope that putting them both in exile from the home they created in each other was the best thing to do for both of them.A story of two people pretending not to love each other.
Relationships: Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Series: we were something don't you think so? [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1878040
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	holdin' all this love out here in the hall

**Author's Note:**

> Based on 'exile' from Taylor Swift's new album, folklore.

There was a huge banner with the words _Happy Birthday Inez_ written on it in bright pink letters with blue, pink and purple streamers covering the rest of the old Charms Room.

Somehow, Inez had convinced Flitwick, the head of Ravenclaw, to give her permission to have a “little get together” as she called it to celebrate her birthday in the classroom. Considering that she was the best in class at Charms and she was top of the year in all the classes, Flitwick easily gave her that permission, even going as far to not have it supervised, since Inez had such a spotless track record. He said that as long as she cleaned up, having a small little get together would be fine, as birthdays should be celebrated and he was sure all her friends could use a stress relieve from studying for N.E.W.T.S.

Of course, the party was anything but the small get together that Inez sold Flitwick on. While she had done her due diligence to cast spells so that the sound wouldn’t carry, nearly every seventh year was in the room and many of them were already drunk. Inez was loving all the attention, spending most of her time on the dance floor, having an incredible time and she would go on and refer to the night as one of her “best birthdays ever”.

Someone not having an incredible time though, was Scorpius Malfoy.

Instead he stood, jaw tight, holding a specialty drink Inez made for the occasion that he only knew consisted of rum, staring at the sight no less than six feet away from him.

There stood Rose, looking as beautiful as ever as she laughed. Scorpius felt her stomach tighten as she did so, but probably because Graham was behind her, his arms wrapped around her waist, whispering in her ear as Rose giggled, before leaning back to kiss him.

Scorpius looked down, sucking in a breath because even after seeing them around campus for over a month now, the pain hadn’t gotten any less.

“You okay mate?” Declan asked.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said.

Declan looked at the direction that Scorpius had been looking before an understanding look came over his face.

“Ah,” Declan said.

Scorpius downed his drink in response.

It had been almost two months since Rose and Scorpius broke up. In that time, they hadn’t spoken, but given all their classes together, it was impossible not to see each other. Especially since, in Transfiguration, McGonagall decided to change the seating chart, meaning that he and Rose were sitting right next to each other. While they didn’t speak normally, being near each other was difficult for Scorpius.

It was a reminder of all that he had fucked up by kissing Mila and then pretending their relationship was just a fling. And how quickly he would have gone back and fixed it.

But then, Rose went to Hogsmeade with Graham, just two weeks after they broke up. The same Hogsmeade weekend that Scorpius overheard Graham asking her to, which sent him into a complete downward spiral that ultimately left him crying on the floor in a Potions room after breaking Rose’s heart.

While Scorpius now felt his worries about Rose and Graham held some validity—Rose had to have had feelings for Graham while she was with Scorpius—he wished he had gone about the end of their relationship better. But the lack of sleep from his insomnia along with his general insecurity in their relationship lead to him just being impulsive and honestly, stupid.

Although Scorpius knew he was at fault for a portion of why their relationship and break up was so bad, he couldn’t help but hold some anger towards Rose. She went from telling him she loved him to being in a relationship with someone else within two weeks. He almost felt as though she just left him with all the love from their relationship, since he was still feeling the pain of their break up two months later while Rose was happily with someone else.

“Mates, have you tried the drinks?” Al said, coming up to him and Declan. “They are phenomenal. Apparently, we should add drink inventor to Inez’s ever-growing list of secret talents.”

“They’re not bad,” Scorpius muttered, taking another drink as his eyes wandered over to Rose again before he could remind himself to shift them away.

Albus frowned at Scorpius before looking over at what he was looking at.

“Oh Merlin, can’t Taylor not manhandle my cousin just once?” Albus asked. “It’s like he’s scared she’ll run away if he lets go of her for a minute.”

Declan snickered, while Scorpius just gritted his teeth, his eyes somehow continuing to come back to where Rose was with Graham.

“Geez and I thought you were bad at hiding your feelings when you were dating my cousin,” Albus said, looking at Scorpius with a glare. “But you’ve been even worse at hiding your feelings after you two broke up.”

“To be fair, he wasn’t trying hard in either scenario,” Declan said.

Scorpius rolled his eyes, hating himself for coming clean to Declan about what happened between him and Rose. Although, a part of that was because Rose had come clean to Albus about what happened between them and when he found out about Scorpius kissing Mila, he promptly came and punched Scorpius in the face one day before Quidditch practice.

While Al made up some fake story about Scorpius being an arse, Declan inquired Scorpius more and Scorpius, fresh off the break up and the beating from Al, told him everything.

Declan wasn’t as surprised as Scorpius thought he would be.

“Mate,” Scorpius recalled Declan saying. “I hate to break it to you but you are awful at hiding your feelings. I’ve known you had feelings for Weasley since I saw you in Diagon Alley with her in August.”

Albus asked Declan if had heard from the Auror department since they both applied and Scorpius, because he lacked self-control, took another look at Rose. She had turned toward Graham, her arms around him and was talking to him seriously. Graham nodded, as if understanding what she was saying and she smiled brightly up at him before standing on her tip toes to kiss him.

Scorpius felt the image burn into his mind and he was sure that he would see it alongside memories of his mother and Rose that now haunted his nights as he lay looking at the ceiling, hoping sleep would come. While he had never been a great sleeper (his mum said she didn’t sleep for the first four years of his life) his mind had been unable to shut off since his mum died, playing all the images of her lying in bed just days away from death or the memories of her would haunt him. After he and Rose broke up, memories of his time with Rose were added to those hours. It almost felt as if he had two ghosts inside him and they didn’t want him to get any relief from the wounds of the past few months.

“Alright lads, it’s shot time,” Jordan said, coming up to them with four shots in his hands. Erica followed behind him, pulling Mila with her. Mila herself had two shots in hand, which Erica took after giving Declan a kiss on the cheek.

They each grabbed the shot, clinking the glasses together before all of them downing the liquor back. Erica coughed at the burn.

“Seriously, how did Inez get Flitwick’s permission to throw a party?” Albus said, looking at Mila. “Merlin knows what my brother would have done to get permission from a teacher to throw a party like this.”

“It helps that Inez is a model student,” Mila said, rolling her eyes as she smiled. “And that she does extra work to help out Professor Sprout with the plants in the greenhouses. Flitwick has always had a soft spot for her. I was honestly surprised when he didn’t make her a Prefect in fifth year. But I guess when you have a Weasley…”

Al frowned at her, giving her a warning look. Mila simply shrugged and looked at Scorpius, giving him a tight smile. Scorpius gave her a small smile back.

Things between them had been awkward since Scorpius kissed her and then left her. While she hadn’t said anything to him, Scorpius knew that she was feeling confused by his actions. Since that day when he left her that classroom with her shirt half done, she had kept her distance from him and Scorpius was sure she was doing so to protect herself from him. Oddly, he found himself missing her; he had liked their friendship they had before his mother died. She was much more relaxed and he could tell she was happier when they were just friends. But for some reason, after his mother died Mila had started sending him signs of wanting to be with him again, something he was sure she no longer felt.

“Well I’m not sure who is more the model Head Girl,” Jordan said, looking towards Rose. “The one who is taking shots or the one whose boyfriend won’t let her get more than three feet away from him.”

They all followed Jordan’s eyes to where Rose was, with Inez nearby. Inez, adorn with a birthday crown and pink sash that said “Birthday Girl!”, was in the process of doing two shots in a row with some Hufflepuffs. Rose was nearby, Graham’s arm holding her waist, as she sent a worried look towards Inez. Inez gave Rose a quick hug, seeming to ignore Graham, before running back to the dancefloor. Scorpius couldn’t help but frown at Inez barely acknowledging Graham. As far as he knew, they were friends.

Mila snuck a glance at him with concerned look on her face, as if checking his reaction to Rose and Graham. Scorpius tried his best to keep his face neutral and raised his eyebrows at her.

“Sure looks like your cousin is getting hammered,” Scorpius said.

“Appears so,” Mila said, watching Inez sing the words to the song. “She certainly has reason to.”

While Scorpius assumed that she meant that it was Inez’s birthday, he couldn’t help but notice that there was a tone in Mila’s voice that implied there was more to the story.

“Really, they are both model students at this point,” Jordan said with a smirk. “We should all get as drunk as Torres and find a clingy partner just like Weasley.” Jordan looked over at Erica and Declan. “Declan is already doing one of those, so good job mate.”

Erica glared at him and Declan grabbed her hand, giving Jordan the finger with his other hand as he dragged Erica towards the food.

“Really though, does Taylor think Weasley will run if she gets far enough away from her?” Jordan said, studying Rose and Graham. “Potter, you do see this right?”

“Yeah,” Al said, his tone flat. “Trust me, I’m aware.”

“So, Al, how’s Quidditch?” Mila said, clearly in an effort to change the topic.

Albus gave her a confused look, since Mila rarely asked him about anything, and she flicked her eyes back at Jordan before looking back at him with as if Jordan was making her sick. Al couldn’t help but snort.

“Honestly though, I can’t say I don’t understand Taylor’s tactics,” Jordan said, still watching Rose and Graham. “I know I would be worried if I managed to finally get a girl incredibly out of my league. Who do you think broke Weasley’s heart for her to finally give Taylor a chance?”

Scorpius pretended to look at his drink as he felt Al’s, and surprisingly Mila’s, eyes glance to him before they went away.

“Whoever the bastard is, Taylor should be thanking them,” Jordan said. “Bloke gets to shag Weasley now after years of pining. Hope she lives up to his wet dreams. Merlin knows how happy I’d be if she lived up to mine.”

Mila gagged in disgust while Al glared at Jordan. Meanwhile, Scorpius felt something flare up in him at Jordan’s words.

“Merlin do you have to be such a disgusting arse all the time?” Scorpius said. “Honestly. It’s not like any of us want to hear the perverted stuff that goes on in your head.”

“Well, sorry mate,” Jordan said, tipping his drink at Scorpius with a smirk. “But you should know I’m joking. Someone as frumpy as Weasley would never make it into my dreams. I feel like even then she’d still yell at me for missing curfew. Hopefully all the shagging is finally getting the stick out of her arse.”

Before Scorpius knew what he was doing, he had pushed his drink into Mila’s hands and grabbed Jordan by the collar, pulling him close. Al reached out to try to help Mila with the drinks, since Scorpius shoving his into her hands caused her drink to start to spill.

“Listen here, Freeman,” Scorpius said, his voice low. “I’m getting really sick of you talking about Rose. Keep her name out of your bloody mouth if you want to be able to play for the Tornados like you plan.”

“Upgrading yourself to threats, are we Malfoy?” Jordan said, taking a step back and pulling his collar out of Scorpius’s hands. “Merlin, that bitch really did a number on you, didn’t she?”

Scorpius’s fist landed on Jordan’s jaw before he even finished his sentence. Jordan fell back a few steps, clutching his jaw and yelling “Fuck!” over and over again.

“Well, can’t say he didn’t have it coming,” Al muttered from behind Scorpius.

“Do you think we should help him?” Mila asked.

“You know, I don’t think so,” Al said. He stepped forward and clapped a hand on Scorpius’s shoulder. “Scorp? You okay?”

Scorpius was taking deep breaths, trying to calm down the waves of emotion that had just taken over him. Scorpius had never hit someone before. While always an emotional person, his mother had worked with him to calm down or at least keep his cool in situations.

But for some reason, listening to Jordan talk about Rose, call her a bitch, he just had enough. Rose hadn’t done anything to Jordan, yet he kept using her to get under Scorpius’s skin.

Jordan was right. She did do a number on him.

His eyes trailed up and he saw Rose looking at Jordan with a confused expression on her face, before looking back up and seeing Scorpius. Their eyes met and for a second, Scorpius could have sworn he saw her shift to head towards him.

But she didn’t.

Scorpius sucked in, trying to fight his urge to walk over there and talk to her. After his mother died, he had lost that anchor, that home that he could go to when he felt overwhelmed. He hadn’t realized he had found another home in Rose until it was too late.

Only now she wasn’t his home anymore. She had made a choice to be with someone who gave her all that she wanted; a public relationship, someone who would scream from the rooftops that they were together. Scorpius had flashes of her the month before, wearing Graham’s old Quidditch jumper in support of Ravenclaw during the Ravenclaw and Slytherin game and how all Scorpius could think was how wrong it was. It was supposed to be his jumper she was wearing.

But he had to remind himself, at the Quidditch game, during classes, when he would walk to their back corner of the library and find her there, focusing so hard that she didn’t notice her tongue sticking out, that she was not his. She wasn’t his home anymore.

And he was still confused as to why he felt this instinct to protect her as if she was his home still.

“Scorpius?” Mila asked, coming to stand next to Albus.

Scorpius watched as Rose’s eyes flitted over to Mila before she looked away. Graham asked her a question and she looked up at him, giving him a smile.

“Yeah,” Scorpius said flatly, turning towards Albus and Mila. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Oh Merlin, what is she doing?” Mila said, looking over at where Inez was now telling people she could transfigure a Gryffindor into a bobby pin.

“The life of a cousin involves ruining their fun a lot doesn’t it?” Al said, giving a smirk to Mila.

Mila sighed. “You would know best I suppose, wouldn’t you Potter?” Mila gave him a quick smile. “I’ll see you both later.”

“Bye, Torres,” Albus said, putting his hand up in a wave.

Scorpius didn’t say anything, but noticed that Al’s eyes followed Mila away longer than they needed to. He frowned at Al.

“What?” Al asked.

“Nothing,” Scorpius said, shrugging. “Just noticing some lingering eyes that’s all.”

Scorpius snuck another glance at Rose before finishing his drink.

“Mate, you’re hardly one to talk about lingering eyes,” Albus responded. “You got to stop.”

Scorpius sighed. “I know.”

“It’s not healthy,” Albus said. “You need to let yourself…have some space to move on from her.”

Scorpius nodded, knowing that Albus was right.

He had seen the film of him and Rose before. Twice. And each time, it had ended badly, with them not speaking to each other. Scorpius didn’t like the ending of those times but more than that, he didn’t like the pain that came with it.

Scorpius took a deep breath, trying to push away the extreme want he had to go talk to Rose. To hold her, kiss her, do everything with her.

It hadn’t ended well. Most likely, it never would end well.

And yet, despite himself, he looked back towards Rose.

She was still in Graham’s arms, but now Layla was talking to her, while Graham spoke to one of his friends. With Graham’s attention away from her, it was almost easier to look at her, because he could pretend Graham’s arm wasn’t wrapped around her.

He remembered when he got to wrap his arms around her, his arms tightening at the memory.

Almost as if she felt it too, Rose looked up at him again, making eye contact, and Scorpius found himself lost in her eyes all over again.

* * *

Rose took a breath in, breaking eye contact with Scorpius and the sudden _wrong_ feeling she had standing in Graham’s arms.

“You okay, Rose?” Layla asked her.

“Yeah, course,” Rose said, trying her hardest not to look back towards Scorpius, even though she could feel his eyes on her.

Feeling his gaze wasn’t necessarily new. Rose often found that his eyes were on her, but she only found that after her own eyes wandered over to him. She couldn’t help herself; they had almost every class together and now sat next to each other in Transfiguration. Despite all of her effort not to, she couldn’t help but look at him.

Of course, as soon as she started dating Graham, she felt that Scorpius’s eyes were now looking at her not just because of his feelings, but watching her and Graham. Rose couldn’t help but feel as though he was watching them to see Graham play the part in her life that Scorpius felt he should be playing. Like Graham was just a stand in until Scorpius decided he wanted Rose back.

At least, that’s what Rose told herself.

She couldn’t help but feel as though a small part of her was still living in hope of what could happen with her and Scorpius.

Against her better judgement, her eyes looked towards Scorpius again, who was now talking with Al, both of them looking serious.

Rose’s attention was drawn away, however by the sound of someone yelling.

“Mila you always ruin my fun!”

“I know,” Mila said, her arm around Inez as she walked her towards Layla. “But that’s what cousins are for. Albus Potter said so.”

Inez rolled her eyes at her cousin.

“Merlin Mila, stop bitching about Albus Potter and just shag the bloke already, you’ve fancied him for years—”

Inez then tripped on her own feet, falling forward and out of Mila’s arm.

“Oh shit,” Layla said, moving towards Inez.

Rose ripped herself out of Graham’s grasp, running towards Inez where she laid on the ground, ignoring Mila’s attempts to get her up.

“Rosie!!!” Inez said gleefully. “Mila, my healer is here!”

Inez sat up on her bottom then, giving Rose a dazzling smile, while Mila grimaced.

“I missed you, Rosie! I wish we could hang out more tonight.”

“You could hang out with us, you just decided to get drunk instead,” Layla said with a smirk.

“It’s my birthday!” Inez said. “What else am I supposed to do? I mean my love life is in shambles so it’s not like I can snog a bloke.”

“You could technically still snog a bloke,” Mila said. “Your love life doesn’t need to be put together to do that.”

“Yeah but it’s not as fun,” Inez said. Her gaze wandered over to where Graham stood before looking away. “Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Alright, that is the cue to get you to the bathroom,” Layla said, grabbing one arm. “Mila, you want to help?”

“Course,” Mila said, grabbing Inez’s other arm and helping her up.

Rose went to follow behind them but felt a hand on her arm.

“Where are you going?” Graham asked curiously. He looked up at Layla and Mila helping Inez walk. “Wait, is Inez okay?”

“Yeah, just drunk,” Rose said. “She’ll feel fine after she pukes. I’m going to grab water and head in there.”

“Oh,” Graham said. “Why don’t you just stay out here?”

Rose sighed. “Graham, we talked about this.”

“I know,” Graham said. “I just want to spend time with you.”

“You literally have had your arm around me all night,” Rose said. “What are you worried is going to happen if you let me out of your reach?”

Graham looked over her head at something behind her before he looked back at her. He started to say something but shook his head, clearly thinking better of whatever he was going to say. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I just…I didn’t think this would happen. I guess I’m just waiting for you to change your mind.”

Rose gave Graham a small smile before leaning up and kissing him. She pulled away but before she could say anything, Graham’s friend Ethan jumped on his back. Graham tripped forward slightly, causing Rose to step back into someone.

“Rosie, you aren’t leaving, are you?” Ethan said. “What is there an essay that just can’t wait until morning?”

Rose grimaced and Graham laughed. Rose couldn’t help but feel disappointed at Graham for laughing. While she knew that he didn’t mean it negatively, she had told Graham a dozen times how often jokes like that bothered her.

“Is that supposed to be funny?”

Rose closed her eyes at the sound of Scorpius’s voice behind her.

Graham immediately stood up straight, his eyes dead set against Scorpius’s. And suddenly, Rose had an inkling of what Graham looked at behind her when she asked him what he was scared of happening if he left her alone.

“Pardon me, Malfoy?”

“I said is that supposed to be funny?” Scorpius asked, moving to stand next to Rose. Rose looked behind her and saw Al standing there shaking his head at Scorpius and sent him a pleading look. “Why is Rose liking to study something to laugh about?”

“Scorpius,” Rose said softly so that Graham wouldn’t hear the pleading tone in her voice. “Don’t.”

Scorpius looked down at her, almost as if he were about to say something when Ethan started speaking.

“Why don’t you mind your own business Malfoy?” Ethan asked. “Rose knows it’s all in good fun.”

“But she doesn’t like it,” Scorpius said in a blunt tone. “I’d think as her boyfriend, Taylor, you’d know that she doesn’t like when people comment on her study habits and not let your git mates say things that could hurt her.”

Graham’s eyes went to Rose before going back to Scorpius. Rose averted her eyes but she could tell by Graham’s look of disbelief that he understood that Scorpius was right.

“As her boyfriend,” Graham said. “I think I know what she is okay with a little better than you. It’s not as if you know her, Malfoy, unless you have something to share. Perhaps a little crush here on my girlfriend?”

Scorpius smirked, a smirk Rose knew well and she immediately became panicked.

“Oh, I have something to share for sure Taylor,” Scorpius said with a glare. “Something I don’t think you would want to hear.”

“Scorpius,” Rose said, her voice tight.

Graham glanced at Rose before looking back at Scorpius and taking a step towards him.

“Well come on Malfoy,” Graham said. “It’s sharing time. Please enlighten me on why you know what my girlfriend is okay with better than me. I can’t wait to prove to you don’t know her at all.”

Scorpius gave Graham an incredulous look. As much as Rose wanted to be on Graham’s side, Rose knew that really, Scorpius did know her better than Graham did. Although Graham and her had been friends for years, her and Scorpius knew each other on a different level, even though their time together was short.

But she didn’t need Graham to know that. And she certainly did not need Graham and Scorpius’s feud to come to a head over it.

“Malfoy, stop,” Rose said, moving to stand in front of him. Scorpius’s eyes fell down to her and she pleaded him with her eyes. “Please.”

Scorpius stared at her for a second with a hard stare before sucking in a breath.

“You’re right Taylor,” Scorpius said, his eyes never leaving Rose’s. “I don’t know her at all.”

Before anyone could say anything else, Scorpius walked away. Rose let out a breath, her heart stinging at his words, and watched him leave for longer than was probably necessary.

“Wanker,” Graham said from behind Rose. She turned to face him, realizing that there was probably no way that Graham didn’t notice the tension between her and Scorpius.

“For a second I thought he was going to deck you,” Ethan said. “And why on earth would he think he knows Rose better than you?”

Graham looked at Rose with a locked jaw, before glancing back towards Ethan. “He’s just a git.”

The tone of his voice made Rose feel as though he knew exactly why Scorpius thought he knew Rose better than him.

Graham turned away from her, focusing on Ethan, and while Rose knew that she probably should have been hurt by this, she couldn’t help but glance back towards the direction Scorpius went, trying to ignore the sense of disappointment and hurt she felt towards him instead of her boyfriend.

Rose couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Scorpius backed down so completely from fighting for her. While she knew that he was probably just trying to get a rise out of Graham, she also felt slightly relieved when he had said something to Graham about the study comments. It proved that Scorpius had actually listened to something that she had said and respected it.

But then he backed down so easily. Instead of keeping the argument about why Ethan shouldn’t make comments about Rose’s study habits, he turned it into trying to one up Graham by nearly saying he had her first.

It made Rose realize that the only reason he probably defended her was because he wanted to get a rise out of Graham. And despite herself, she felt disappointed by that.

Graham was still talking to Ethan and for once, seemed not to want to talk to her, so she made her way towards the bathroom, hating herself for trying to catch a glimpse of blonde hair the whole way.

Rose pushed open the door to the bathroom, following Inez’s voice to the last stall.

“Layla, I’m fine I swear,” Inez said as she laid on the ground next to the toilet.

Mila gave Inez a look. “You literally just spent the past two minutes puking.”

“Not to mention crying,” Layla said.

“Well boys are dumb,” Inez said with a hiccup. She opened her eyes and saw Rose. “Rose! Rose isn’t dumb.”

Mila and Layla looked towards Rose; Mila, looking annoyed that Rose was there and Layla looking grateful.

“I thought you were right behind us?” Layla asked.

“Graham pulled me away for a sec,” Rose said. “And then he got into it with Scorpius.”

“What do you do to these boys?” Mila said, her voice flat. “I find it hard to believe they’re fighting over you just for your personality.”

Rose gave a confused look at Mila, wondering if maybe, somehow, Mila knew what happened between her and Scorpius. But Mila looked away, kneeling down to Inez who was drunkenly speaking.

“Boooooo both of them suck,” Inez said. “Scorpius is a jerk for how-how he treated you Mi. He’s a shitbag. And Graham…Graham is annoying.”

“You’ve been friends with him for seven years,” Layla said.

“Yeah well he’s annoying,” Inez whined. “He’s dumb and blind and annoying. And why is he fighting with Scorpius? Scorpius is annoying but did nothing to Graham. The only reason Graham would even care about Scorpius is he somehow was in love with Rose too. Which would make sense…I mean she’s amazing. Could easily have her pick of guys and she picks Graham. Bloke should feel lucky.”

Rose felt guilt starting to trickle in as she noticed tears forming in Inez’s eyes. Mila grabbed some toilet paper handing them to Inez.

Inez wiped her eyes. “Me though? I shouldn’t feel lucky. I become friends with the most amazing person in the world and for some reason thought that a guy who’s been in love with Rose since we were 14 might like me…I’m stupid.”

Rose looked down, guilt full force then. When she started dating Graham, it became clear to Rose that Inez had feelings for Graham that she hadn’t shared with Rose. Although Inez assured Rose that it was okay, she’d be okay, it was just a crush, she wanted Rose to be happy, Rose didn’t miss how Inez had distanced herself from Graham, barely speaking to him anymore.

The worst part was that Graham barely seemed to notice. As soon as Rose agreed to go out with him his focus had been on her and he kept telling her how this was the happiest he had ever been.

She wished she could have said the same.

But Scorpius would always manage to worm his way into her mind.

“If you had to pick between Graham and Scorpius who would you guys pick?” Inez said, resting her head on the toilet seat.

“Ew, Inez lift your head up,” Mila said, trying to get her to get her face off of the seat.

“If I asked me that a month ago, I would have said Graham,” Inez said, ignoring Mila’s attempt to lift her head of the toilet seat. “Scorpius is a tosser for how he treated you Mila but Graham is appearing to be a tosser too. So, I guess I don’t know who I’d pick. What about you guys?”

“As much as I hate to admit it, Malfoy is fit,” Layla said. “Graham feels too much like a brother that I think I’d have to go with him, unfortunately.”

“Gee my ex-boyfriend or a bloke I barley know,” Mila said. “Tough call.”

“What if I added Albus Potter to the mix?” Inez said, giggling as she looked at Mila, who glared at her.

“Oh, give me Albus any day,” Layla said. “At least him I can have a conversation with.”

“Helps that he’s fit too, right?” Inez said.

“Of course,” Layla said. “Is that your pick Inez? Mila?”

“Definitely mine,” Inez said. “I would climb him like a tree.”

“Ew,” Rose said. “That’s my cousin.”

“I won’t!” Inez said. “Can’t make promises for this one though.” She pointed at Mila.

“Inez, I don’t know how many times I have to tell you that I genuinely dislike Albus Potter and it’s not some cute bit to cover up my buried feelings for him,” Mila said. “I have only ever had feelings for one guy remember? The one that treated me badly. And now you want me to pick between him, a bloke I don’t know, and a bloke I find incredibly frustrating—"

“Incredibly sexually frustrating,” Inez said under her breath. Mila glared at her.

“Are you trying to have me abandon you?” Mila asked. Inez just gave her a smile and patted her head.

“The fact that you two are related is very odd sometimes,” Layla said.

“Don’t I know it,” Mila said. “Is none of the three an option? Can I say I’d rather live a boy free life?”

“Oh, if none of the three is an option, I’m taking that,” Layla said.

Inez giggled. “Fine, I will allow it.”

“Thank Merlin,” Mila said.

“What about you Rose?” Inez said, looking up at Rose. Rose had been so caught up in watching that she had almost forgot that she was a participant in the conversation as well. “We’ll throw Al out since that’s gross. But what about the other two?”

“Yeah Weasley,” Mila said, her voice having a cutting edge to it. “Scorpius or your boyfriend. Who would you pick?”

She gave Rose a pointed look and now Rose was sure that somehow, Mila knew about her and Scorpius.

How did she know? Did Scorpius tell her?

And why did the idea of Scorpius telling Mila about them cause hope to bubble up in Rose’s stomach?

“Oh no, not again,” Inez said, as she vomited again, just barely making it into the toilet. Mila held her hair back, stroking it soothingly and Rose couldn’t help but feel confused by how Mila could go from being an ice queen to a caregiver so quickly.

“Rose and I are going to get some paper towels for her,” Layla said, grabbing Rose’s hand and dragging her to the sinks.

Rose was biting her lip, trying to push the hope down, but since Mila’s pointed comment, all that came to her mind were more thoughts that potentially Scorpius didn’t see her as just a fling after all. Perhaps he meant it when he said he loved her.

She knew that she sure had.

“Rose,” Layla said, a clear tone of warning in her voice. “Don’t do this to yourself.”

“Do what?” Rose asked, wetting some paper towels.

“Don’t starting thinking that Mila’s comments mean something,” Layla said. “Don’t think that she somehow knows that Scorpius is still in love with you or something.”

Rose gulped. “I’m not.”

“That was incredibly unconvincing,” Layla said, shaking her head.

“Well, what if she does know something?” Rose said, turning towards Layla. “What if Scorpius told her something?” Layla gave her a disbelieving look. “I know I sound crazy I just…I just can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking.”

“Yeah, but you shouldn’t wonder what he’s thinking,” Layla said. “Rose, I love you but you need to stop. How many times have you and Scorpius tried this?”

Rose winced. “Twice.”

“And how did it go each time?”

“Badly.”

“So why are you working yourself up over something his ex, who hates you, said and not focusing on the fact that you have a wonderful boyfriend who treats you way better than Scorpius Malfoy ever did?” Layla asked.

Rose bit her lip and looked down, not having an answer for Layla.

“Look, I get it,” Layla said. “Scorpius and you…I get that it was kind of like a drug for you. But you weren’t happy. You know that. You had to keep your relationship a secret and then he cheated on you, with Mila, who you already had so many insecurities about and was a complete arse about it. So even if it’s hard…you know what being with him would bring. Why fool yourself into thinking it was anything but the shittiness it was?”

Rose was about to respond, about to say that their relationship wasn’t just full of shittiness, but was interrupted by Mila yelling.

“Can someone please bring a paper towel for her? And relieve me?” Mila yelled. “I have puke on me and I’d like to clean it!”

“Coming!” Layla said. She took one last glance at Rose. “You’re better off without Malfoy, Rosie. Trust me.”

Rose nodded as Layla walked away but she couldn’t quite believe what Layla was saying, even though really, Layla was probably right.

Rose knew the story of her and Scorpius. It had been the same twice before. They get together, everything is great, until all of a sudden, he decides it’s not. And then Mila somehow is involved and their relationship completely falls apart.

First it was the letters she wrote him all summer, then it was Scorpius kissing her.

Rose knew that it didn’t end well. She knew it ended with her crying and them not speaking after he tossed her aside.

But she couldn’t stop herself from hoping that how Scorpius was acting meant something.

“Ugh,” Mila said as she came towards the sink, wiping her shirt. “I love Inez, I love Inez, I love Inez, I absolutely do not want to kill her—”

“Did she get you?” Rose asked.

Mila looked up at Rose.

“Unfortunately,” Mila said, pulling her wand out and cleaning herself up. She turned on the water, washing her hands. “Can’t help but notice that you are the only one not taking a shift with her so far. Unfortunately, I can’t say I expected better from you.”

Rose frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“I don’t like you Weasley,” Mila said, her eyes narrowing.

“What a shock, I thought we were best friends,” Rose said, surprising herself at her response. Normally, she would try to ignore Mila’s antagonistic remarks, but she wasn’t in the mood tonight.

“Trust me, the last thing I would want to be is your best friend after seeing how you treat people you care about,” Mila said.

Rose shook her head, confused. “What the bloody hell are you talking about?”

“Well, Inez calls you one of her best friends but you sure didn’t seem to give a shit about her feelings when you started dating Graham,” Mila said.

“I didn’t know she had feelings for him,” Rose said truthfully.

“Then you must have been blind for the past year,” Mila responded. “Inez has been mad about him for a while and you’d have to either be completely unobservant or incredibly selfish not to notice.”

Rose took a deep breath, her guilt that was already there regarding Inez and her feelings for Graham intensifying.

“I might have been able to forgive you for it to, but you had to just make it worse,” Mila said.

“I apologized to Inez and made sure it was okay once I knew—"

“I’m talking about the fact that you are dating Graham yet don’t even seem to care about him,” Mila said.

Rose frowned. “I care about Graham.”

“As a friend, sure,” Mila said. “But not as anything more. It’s obvious that he is way more into you than you are into him.”

Rose looked away not able to argue.

“No, you’re just using him to get over whatever the fuck you and Scorpius had,” Mila said, and Rose looked up at her in shock. “So not only are you hurting my cousin, but you’re doing it completely selfishly and using some poor bloke too because you and Scorpius can’t get your shit together.”

“How-how do you know about that?” Rose asked.

Mila gave Rose a knowing look. “Unlike you, I can actually pick up on what is going on with people without them explicitly telling me. That is one thing I am in fact better than you at.”

Mila touched up her hair, before looking back at Rose.

“Listen, I know I’m probably the last person you want to hear this from, but don’t use someone else to try to get over Scorpius. Trust me, it doesn’t work,” Mila said. “All you’re doing is hurting two people you claim to care about.”

“I do care about them,” Rose said. “I’m not trying to hurt Inez or Graham.”

Mila studied Rose for a second. “I believe you about Inez. But using Graham to try to move on from Scorpius? That’s not fair. And I may not like you, but I know you’re better than that.”

Mila started walking back towards Inez before turning back to Rose.

“It takes time,” Mila said, her voice softer than before. Rose frowned at her. “It takes time to get over Scorpius. Especially since he is really good at making you hopeful. But from one ex to another, I’m starting to think the only way to truly get over him is to not have him in your life.”

“So why do you still have him in yours?” Rose asked, her curiosity getting the better of her.

Mila let out a shaky laugh. “Because unfortunately, I have a hard time imagining my life without him and I’m hoping the feelings just go away. But maybe if it works for you, I’d be willing to give it a try.”

Mila walked back to Inez leaving Rose alone.

Rose looked into the mirror, reflecting on Mila’s words. She hadn’t meant to be a bad friend to Inez. She hadn’t meant to use Graham.

Yet she couldn’t argue with Mila about using Graham to get over Scorpius.

Flashes of Scorpius looking at her throughout the night came back to her, him defending her coming into her mind too. Despite herself, hope continued to bubble.

But she wasn’t his anymore. He had abandoned her.

And maybe Mila was right. Maybe the only way to truly get over Scorpius Malfoy was to close the door on him completely.

Rose splashed some water on her face as images of Scorpius and her from their previous relationships started to play through her mind.

But she was smarter than she was then. She knew how the story would end.

And so, she made her way out of the bathroom, the door slamming behind her symbolic of her mind attempting to slam the door on her and Scorpius.

* * *

Scorpius leaned back against the wall a few hallways down from the Charms corridor, trying to calm himself down.

He had almost done it, almost told Rose’s new boyfriend that he did in fact know Rose best, because he had dated her first. He knew her better than anyone first.

He had loved her first.

Scorpius felt a lump in his throat at the reminder in his head that he still loved her.

He took a deep breath, trying to push the lump down, knowing that there was no amount of crying that could make up for what he did to Rose. He knew that realistically, her and Graham together made sense; more sense that Scorpius and Rose ever did.

That was why he kissed Mila, why he had completely ruined everything between them. He could never give her what she wanted, which was a public relationship.

Scorpius had started to believe the pain of losing her was worse than what they would have dealt with as a couple. He hated admitting that the fear of the press and what they would do their relationship had won over his feelings for Rose.

But he wasn’t a Gryffindor. He was a Slytherin. He was allowed to be scared and chose self-preservation over chivalry and risk taking.

Scorpius was just starting to wonder the choice of self-preservation was worth it.

Scorpius heard a door slam and he looked up, frowning. He started walking towards where the slamming came from, hearing footsteps and muttering coming his way too.

Scorpius continued down the dark hallway, trying to listen what the person was saying.

“Don’t be stupid, just shut the door on that chapter, it didn’t work, it’s never going to work it—ow!”

Rose ran straight into someone’s chest, rolling her ankle as she tried to step back from the person she walked into.

“Fuck, ow,” Rose said, shaking out her ankle to ease the pain.

“Are you okay?”

Rose looked up and almost groaned out loud.

Of course, the person that she ran into was the person she was trying to shut out of her life.

“Yeah,” Rose said, shaking her ankle as the pain started to go away. “I just rolled my ankle. I’ll be fine. It already feels better.”

“Good,” Scorpius said. “Don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Well, fortunately that’s not your job anymore,” Rose said, before silently cursing herself. Scorpius look taken aback at her words.

There was an awkward moment of silence before Scorpius spoke.

“I’m sorry,” Scorpius said quietly. “For how I handled the end of our relationship. I wasn’t sleeping well—”

“I know,” Rose said. Scorpius gave her a questioning look. “I know you weren’t sleeping well. I could tell that you hadn’t slept well since your mum died.”

“Right,” Scorpius said. “Well, it started messing with me…I wasn’t thinking clearly on a lot of things. Apparently, sleep is something you need to be a functioning human.”

“Are you sleeping better now?”

Scorpius shrugged. “A little, yeah.”

Rose couldn’t help but feel slightly relieved hearing that. She had been worried about him.

“Good,” Rose said, with a small smile. “It will help with your N.E.W.T.S if you sleep.”

Scorpius gave her a smirk and it reminded her of the smirk he gave her in her kitchen last summer, before anything had ever happened between them.

Yet despite all the pain that she had felt since then, she would never go back and change it.

“Yeah it will,” Scorpius said, unable to hide his loving smirk from her. “Merlin knows I’ll need all the help I can get.”

Rose gave him a half smile. “I should probably go.”

“Rose…” Scorpius said, nervously. “I really am sorry. I didn’t—I didn’t mean to kiss Mila.”

“Right,” Rose said, frowning at him. “Because that’s something that can totally happen on accident.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Scorpius said.

“I know it’s not what you meant,” Rose responded. “But even if you didn’t mean to kiss her you did. And you acted like an arse afterwards.”

Scorpius sighed, knowing she was right.

“How do you always do that?” Scorpius asked.

“Do what?”

“Know things that I don’t tell you,” Scorpius said. “You’ve always done that, just known things. You knew when I needed you after my mum died, you knew I wasn’t sleeping well…how do you do that?”

Rose shrugged. “I just know you. And apparently, I can’t stop knowing you and what you need or what you mean. No matter how hard I try.”

“Why are you trying not to know that?” Scorpius asked.

“Because there’s no point anymore,” Rose said honestly. “We’re not…we’re not together anymore.”

Scorpius nodded. “No, you have Mr. Wonderful who won’t let you wander farther than six feet away from him. Why in Merlin’s name would you need me?”

Rose gave him a warning look. “Don’t, Scorpius.”

“Don’t what?” Scorpius asked. He felt himself falling into almost the same fight pattern that he had with Mila. Playing the asshole and escalating the argument. “Don’t point out that you have everything you wanted, so no wonder you tossed me to the side?”

Rose shook her head. “I never tossed you to the side!”

“Sure,” Scorpius said. “I wanted us to be private and you didn’t want that so you made the choice to move on.”

“I only made the choice to move on after you forced me to!” Rose said, her voice raising slightly. “As I recall, you snogged your ex, so forgive me for not wanting to be your little secret anymore. I didn’t agree to give you free reign to snog whoever you wanted just because no one knew about us.”

Scorpius shook head, feeling frustrated that Rose still didn’t understand why he didn’t want anyone to know.

“You never heard me out or understood why I wanted us to be private,” Scorpius said.

“That’s bullshit, I knew why you wanted to be private!” Rose said. “You were scared of what would happen because of what happened with Mila. You wanted a break after being in the papers for so long. I understood that. I heard you.”

“Then why—”

“Because you never heard me out!” Rose said. “You never got why being a secret bothered me.”

“You’re right, I didn’t,” Scorpius said. “Because we got to be together and have no interference, I don’t understand what’s wrong with that.”

“I want someone who is proud to say they are with me,” Rose said. “I wanted you to be excited about being with me. I wanted you to do all those things that you told me we would do during the summer that we never did, like snog in the library and to go to your Quidditch games wearing your scarf—I wanted that. I wanted you to be so happy to be with me that you wanted to tell the world about it. Instead you just made me feel like you were too scared of what people would think.”

Scorpius shook his head. “You know that’s not why I wanted to our relationship to be private.”

“I know,” Rose said. “But it’s how you made me feel.”

Scorpius took a deep breath in looking around the hallway.

“So, Graham Taylor gives you all that then?” he asked.

“Don’t bring him into this,” Rose said, with a warning glance.

“What? I’m not supposed to believe that you weren’t thinking that you could just jump into his arms while we were together because he could give you everything you wanted?” Scorpius asked. “Come on Rose, even I saw that. You don’t have to lie to me about it now; the fact that you moved on so quickly kind of proves that.”

Rose grinded her teeth feeling anger rush through her.

“I never thought of Graham in any way besides friendship until after we were together,” Rose defended. “Because the whole time we were together I was hoping that you would be that guy. I didn’t care who else could give me what I wanted, I wanted it to be you. I still—”

Rose cut herself off, looking away as tears filled her eyes.

Scorpius stared at her, hope bubbling up in his chest at what the end of her sentence could have been.

“Still what?” Scorpius asked, taking a step closer to her.

Rose shook her head. “Nothing.”

“No, tell me,” Scorpius said.

Rose gave him a questioning look at his sudden shift in tone; gone was the anger, malice, and jealousy that had laced their whole interaction. Now his voice was soft, gentle almost, and Rose had flashes of all the times he had used that voice in their relationship.

Scorpius had taken enough steps that now he was directly in front of her. Rose knew she should put distance between them, knew the draw that she still felt towards him, but found that she couldn’t move away.

“You still what?” Scorpius whispered. He scanned her face, looking for any hint of what it was and to ignore the sound of his beating heart. Rose suddenly felt very grateful that he never learned to read her mind. The intensity of how he was staring at her made her worry that he could figure out how in love with him she still was if he tried hard enough.

“Okay,” Scorpius said, nodding. “You don’t have to tell me. But I need to tell you something.”

Rose looked up at him, seeing the hope in his eyes and immediately knew what he was going to say.

“Scorpius,” Rose said quietly, looking at him with pleading eyes, hoping he wasn’t going to say what she knew he would say. She leaned towards him, unable to help it and Scorpius met her in the middle, his forehead on hers.

“I’m still in love with you,” he whispered. “I’m still in love with you and I want to try this again. We can do this on your terms; however, you want. I’ll sing you a new love song every day at breakfast if you want, we can do a whole interview with Witch Weekly so the whole world knows we’re together, I’ll do anything, but please let’s just try this again.”

Rose closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, trying to maintain her composure as Scorpius said all the words she had hoped he’d say for months now. She felt his hands come to her waist and her hands clenched her shirt, trying to fight the urge to wrap around him.

“I’ll do better this time, I know I fucked up, but we know what happened last time and why it didn’t work, we would be able to make it work,” Scorpius said. “I’d have to listen more and be better about reading your emotions and you’d have to be firmer with what you want and not let me bulldoze you and we could do it. We could make it work.”

Rose lost the battle with her hands, her fingers finding his shirt and pulling him closer and she inhaled the scent of him again. She couldn’t help but feel like suddenly she was coming home after time away by being in his arms and breathing him in.

“I’m so in love with you Rose,” Scorpius said, squeezing her waist. For the first time in months she was in his arms and he couldn’t help but feel like that homesick feeling that had been in his gut since they broke up was suddenly gone and he was finally home. “Just…give us another shot. Please. I…I love you so much.”

Tears fell from Rose’s eyes.

“I love you too,” Rose said. Scorpius wiped some tears away. “I love you more than I want to.”

Scorpius couldn’t help but smile at that.

A moment of silence passed between them and for that time, it was just the two of them, standing there, absorbing the fact that they were still in love with one another.

Rose took a deep breath before pushing herself away from Scorpius, out of his grasp, and looking up at him, tears in his eyes.

She could do it. She could so easily say yes and be with him, give their relationship another try, believe that third time was in fact the charm.

But she had seen that film before and so far, it had ended the same way. Her heart broken and confused and her and Scorpius avoiding each other.

And she didn’t like that ending. So, this time, she was going to leave before there was even the chance of it ending like that.

“I don’t think we should talk to each other anymore,” Rose said. Scorpius’s face fell and Rose felt her heart lurch. “We can’t do this. This isn’t fair to Graham and it isn’t fair to us. We…we need to move on and let go of one another.”

Scorpius watched Rose intensely for a moment, his jaw tight, before giving her a single nod, not trusting himself to say anything.

Rose could tell the pain he was in and wanted to wrap her arms around him, tell him she didn’t mean it, that she could never let him go, but the logical side, which reminded her of how the story goes, won out.

Rose wasn’t sure what to do so she nodded and before she could do anything else walked away with each step feeling as though she was exiling herself from the home that she made herself with Scorpius.

She turned a corner and leaned against the wall, sliding down it as the pain enveloped her.

She knew that Graham was probably in the party, wondering where she had gone and the guilt of how she treated Graham had not caught up to her yet. The guilt of the fact that she was still in love with Scorpius even though she had a new boyfriend hadn’t caught up to her. The guilt of how her first reaction when Scorpius asked for another chance was to say yes and break up with Graham without another thought hadn’t caught up to her.

Nothing about the situation had caught up with her and instead, all she could think about as she sat against the wall, sobbing, was how she had broken her own heart in not letting herself go back to Scorpius.

She could only hope that putting them both in exile from the home they created in each other was the best thing to do for both of them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This one was the hardest of the three so far to write, which is why it took so long to get out. Hopefully Part 4 (the last part!) won't take as along!
> 
> Also Inez is perfect and needs to be protected from the cruel world.
> 
> Please let me know what you thought by leaving me a comment or a kudos! Any guesses on which song part 4 will be based off of?


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